Ron Paul triumphant: House passes his beloved ‘Audit the Fed’ bill

Ron Paul supporters

It was Ron Paul’s biggest legislative triumph in years — perhaps the capstone in a congressional career that began in 1976.

The House today passed the 76-year-old Texan’s “audit the Fed” bill which is intended to create transparency in the Federal Reserve.

House passage of the Lake Jackson lawmaker’s bill, which will allow Congress’s investigators to audit of the Federal Reserve’s methods of decision-making, marks a high point for the Texas Republican, who is retiring at the end of the current session of Congress.

The bill was approved by an overwhelming tally of 327-98, and is now on its way to the Senate, marking a high point for supporters of an audit, who have been pushing for one for years.

Paul shed light on the issue during his past two presidential campaigns, claiming the bill will allow Congress to start to reclaim its constitution-granted financial and banking powers.

The main opposition to the bill, naturally, was from the Democrats in Congress, who expressed doubt that the bill will ever become a law, and concern over the potential perception among financial markets that lawmakers are interfering in financial issues.

“It seems to me what we’re talking about is taking some fake punches at the Federal Reserve but not doing anything serious,” Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee told the Washington Times on Wednesday.

Joining Frank in opposition was Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who called the audit a “nightmare scenario” and claimed it would lead many politicians to second-guess his choices.

But Paul, during debate on the bill, told listeners that “it is up to us to reassert ourselves.”